Thought we'd nailed a name for baby boy #4, but now not so sure (take 2)

Hi Berries,
I posted a few weeks ago with a dilemma DH and I were having around naming our fourth son Boaz, specifically surrounding the nickname Bo and our surname (sounds like Day-vus) sounding a bit like bodacious... Anyway, we worked through that, and I was happy that we were still set with Boaz, but it has become clear to me over the last couple of weeks that DH is not comfortable with it :( He says he is, but he has come out with random "You know, I've really like the name ________" comments on and off, and then yesterday suggested we use the second middle name we have chosen as a first name. He says he is happy, but 'has some doubts' (umm... yes, my darling, that makes no sense!). I kind of feel like we need to go back to the drawing board...

So, I would love some advice and/or suggestions from all you clever berries, pretty please...

To give some perspective:

Current short-list is in my siggy, but, other than Boaz, I don't feel 'in-love' with any of these anymore.

DH's suggestions have been:HudsonLawsonBarnaby
Hemlock (was not joking and really, really liked it)Merrick (I think this was jumping off Marek)
Mekonnen (this is what we have chosen for our son's second middle - it is an Ethiopian name meaning 'noble', which is a nod to our first son's Ethiopian heritage)

DH is picky and has rules:
nothing starting with D, G, R, or C,
nothing ending in a /s/ sound (too hissy with Dayvus),
nothing that sounds like it could go over to the girls (e.g. a schwa ending (Ezra, Ivor etc)).

I have tried to budge him, particularly on the alliteration with our surname, or kids sharing initials, but he is adamant. To top it off, we both work in schools, so we both tend to have strong associations with popular names and prefer rare, but real, names...

Full name of baby boy will be ____________ Geoffrey Mekonnen 'Day-vus'

We are full-term - EDD is next week - so I am starting to feel a little stressed... and I am definately starting to grieve Boaz :(

My advice would be not to talk about names unless he brings it up, and let him make a proper stand against Boaz if he wants to. Otherwise, stick with Boaz, which he previously agreed to. When his son is born, he will love his son and hence his name. It's not for you to pre-empt the decision to pick a new name, let it come from him if he feels strongly enough.

June 19th, 2013, 11:25 AM

emsky

I love Marek! You both like the sound, you just have to to agree on spelling.

I like Frederick, Luther, Bram, which were all on my lists at various times. I was going to have Fritz or Lute as nicknames. And (off of your husband's list) I like Barnaby. That sounds like a kid with personality. But do you like any of your husband's suggestions? Why or why not? Just trying to get a feel.

Thanks everyone for your responses :) Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, for some reason Nameberry was jacking up at me replying on my phone and then wouldn't let me respond when I logged in on the desktop... 'tis working now, I hope!

@dancersventure - I love Bram also and I do think it fits well with the other three, but DH is a bit 'meh' about it...

@4815162342 - Thanks for your comment. I'm also definately a bit 'meh' about Hudson! I'm not a fan of surnames as first names and Hudson is very popular where we live (I think it's in the top 20 Australia wide)

@velvetcrush - thanks for your thoughts. I suppose my motivation in re-addressing names is that while DH may not be clearly articulating WHY he feels uncomfortable with Boaz, it is fairly clear to me that he is. And he is actively raising the subject by saying, "I like this name" on and off... I'm sure I could say to him, "No, he's Boaz. That's what we agreed", (especially if I did it straight after the birth!), but I would like it to be a joint decision to come to a name that we are both comfortable with, which we did manage to achieve with out other boys. And we have no regrets about their names... I don't want either of us to experience name regret. It is possible that when he is born, he will say, "you know, lets stick with Boaz", which would be fab, but I don't really want to go to the hospital banking on that happening

@emsky - thanks... it's interesting, because I really consider Marek and Merrick to be two seperate names (Marek being the Polish version of Mark and Merrick being a Scottish place descriptor)... I pronounce them slightly differently also. That said, I like them both, but the sticking point is that there is a prominent radio and TV personality here whose name is Merrick, which is fine, except that for about 15 years his partner was called Rosso (they had sydicated radio shows and also a pay-tv comedy show, which is no doubt still in re-runs). And I just feel like having sons Merrick (or Marek) and Roscoe is a bit too close for my comfort!

@mcdonak1 - my preferred nickname for Luther is Lute also! We are going to revisit Luther.

I also like Barnaby - I feel like it fits with our other boy's names and (if he's anything like the other 3) this LO will have a lot of character... BUT BarnabyJoyce is the name of a (in my opinion) fairly horrible right-wing politician here in Australia, and he is not going anywhere unless something changes significantly in the political climate... It's just such a distinctive name, and I worry that people will automatically make that connection... would love to hear other's thoughts on this...

As far as DH's other suggestions: I loathe Hudson and Lawson (too trendy, surnamey for my taste), I really like Hemlock (shhh don't tell him! ;)), but I don't think we should to that to a child, as I said above I like Merrick, but there are associations with it that make me uncomfortable. Mekonnen is a great name. I love it. But we have one son who was adopted (and has his original Ethiopian name) and 2 biological sons who have Ethiopian names as middles and I feel like giving our last biological child an Ethiopian first name is a little... I don't know... inconsistent?? Also, people who know Ethiopian names will recogise it and people who don't will probably think it's a) made up or b) a kre8tiv spelling of the surname of McConnen, neither of which pleases me! Clem was one of DH's suggestions for our last son (who is Cormac), but it is now out because (apparently!) we can't have 2 'C' names.

@boyandgirl - LOL, I love the name Geoffrey also, which is lucky since I married one :D All the boys have Geoffrey as their first middle name, because it is their Dad's name... We're not into Jnrs and DH can't cope with matching initials, so I think the same name would really knock him for six ;) Thanks for the suggestion though, I would love to meet a little Geoffrey!